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Aion Interviews: One Month in Q&A
MMORPG.com's Jon Wood had the opportunity to ask a few questions of Aion's Producer Brian Knox as we approach the game's one-month anniversary.
By Jon Wood on October 21, 2009
| MMORPG.com: | Would you describe the initial launch of Aion to the North American market to be a success? |
| Brian Knox: | So far so good! The response since launch has really exceeded our expectations, and players continue to keep logging in. As you know, an MMO doesn't stop at launch so we still have a long way to go. We learned a lot in those first few weeks and feel we're on a great path now to continue to build off of the great experience. |
| MMORPG.com: | Can you explain what led to the decision to allow what many considered to be outrageous queue times directly after launch rather than to add more servers or take some other measure to be sure that all who paid for the game could play when they wanted to? |
| Brian Knox: | We tried to walk a very fine line and we strayed a bit in the beginning. Our goal was to always ensure there was a playable server for that language or region. Most players didn't use this option and continued to stay with their original server, but the option was there. That said, today we're seeing much more reasonable queue times today and continue to monitor this closely. |
| MMORPG.com: | How has the queue situation played out over time? Has the system normalized since launch? |
| Brian Knox: | Now that the hype of the first two weeks are over things have levelled out and we have healthy populated servers with minimal to no queue times. We will continue to monitor and predict adding new servers as time goes but I think we can all agree that an empty unhealthy server in an MMO is not fun |
| MMORPG.com: | What are the developers currently doing to alleviate what many feel to be an epidemic in game when it comes to bots and gold spammers existing within the game? |
| Brian Knox: | We have many tools on the back end that we cannot necessarily go into. What I would like to make clear is that these bots and spammers aren't just regular people they are organized criminals. They steal accounts and credit cards to earn their gold and advertise their services. There are 40+ companies of these criminals all working against us, so this is not an easy fight. But as I said we have many tools behind the scenes to detect and prevent these criminals from ruining Aion. As my public service announcement for the day, don't trust these companies for kinah or power leveling. They will use your account to spam and bot and eventually steal it back, maybe not today but eventually. That being said, we have implemented new spam filters as of this latest update that we think should help limit the spam and have our team closely monitoring and banning these as quickly as we find them. |
| MMORPG.com: | What advantages has Aion had in launching first in an Eastern market before being launched here in the West? |
| Brian Knox: | Stability and balance. We launched with a stable product that had been tested by massive amounts of players. We also have a game that has been balanced for months so that players have a good game experience. |
| MMORPG.com: | There have been complaints that Abyss PvP is too centered around group battle, leaving the solo player more or less in the lurch. Can you speak to this? |
| Brian Knox: | This all depends on play style. The Abyss is certainly more tailored to large PvPvE battles but that doesn't mean a player cannot survive and thrive alone. |
| |
| MMORPG.com: | What kind of feedback have the developers received post-launch that they are looking at integrating into upcoming patches and updates? |
| Brian Knox: | We are looking into expanding the legion system and improvements to the UI, all things our players have been asking for. And as players are also seeing today, we've implemented some new spam filters to help address feedback from players, as well. |
| MMORPG.com: | How long, on average, has it been taking for players to reach max level since launch? |
| Brian Knox: | Most of our players are reaching the max level in around 300 hours. We more or less what we predicted from before launch. That said, it's been exciting to watch the progression of players. |
| MMORPG.com: | Can you tell us what the developers have learned from Aion's launch? What do you feel was done right, and what, if you had it to do over again, would you change? |
| Brian Knox: | We believe we did a good job in our beta testing. We received great feedback, thoroughly tested the game, didn't burn out users, and were able to show the game off to a larger number of users than traditional beta tests. I think we should have had a few more servers. |
;)
Well at least you asked the hard question about bots and spammers. Hopefully we will see some better help for this in the future as it currently is still very much a major issue in the game.
Something says me that Aion is fail. Dang, just now that i bought the game to know... me and my sotne head!
The real question to ask would have been what are they doing about the Aion.bin and crysystem.dll crash that happens when you get into hig populated areas...i cancelled my account until that bug is fixed. Im sure many have done the same. The game is great but that bug is killing it for alot of people.
Go to this <link> and help NCWest find your crash report.
1. PVE is very boring, repetitive, and mob XP is a joke
2. Grouping seems to be penalized Pre level 40
3. Quest rewards for exp and loot are out of whack
4. Itemization is horribad!
5. RVR/Forts have poor performance, rewards are poor
6. The PVE death penalty is ridiculous
If they don't fix those things in short order, then I see AION USA taking a similar path that Warhammer and AOC had with a good initial launch while bleeding subs over the first six months. All three games basically cater to the same population, and that population has twice said that RVR/Siege games can't have a bad grind to level, RVR/Sieges need to have good performance, and the PVP end game needs to feel rewarding.
Was forced to move to a new server 4 days in a row, average log-in wait 2-3 hours, cancelled the acount when the login on day 5 was no better. Last pre-order for a while, not even going to look at GW II because it's an NCSoft game.
GW2 is an Arenanet game. Don't confuse craptactic NCsoft with Arenanet. NCsoft is just the publisher, they have nothing to do with how the game plays whatsoever.
Go to this <link> and help NCWest find your crash report.
Thx, But i have done that already. I just hope its fixed soon so i can continue to play. I stopped just to not get annoyed with the game.
GW2 is an Arenanet game. Don't confuse craptactic NCsoft with Arenanet. NCsoft is just the publisher, they have nothing to do with how the game plays whatsoever.
Yeah he is right, Ncsoft has nothing to do with the gameplay. So GW2 cant be in the same boat. I was there for the release of GW and it was very smood transition from beta to live so i dont see why Arenanet cant pull it off again.
I so LOL wheni read this,
They are not doing anything about bots, hell there 4x more bots now then there was 2 weeks ago. And i still see some i have reported 2 weeks ago playing.
Stability: ah sure, the game keeps crashing on me with the crysis.dll thing, and my server has crashed 23times in first two weeks while i was on. This is more then WoW did in first month.
This game, really for me right now is BLAH. the grind is so boring because really what the point. The PVP is mediocre ata best, better then WOW but not as good as DAOC.
Well, patience now, i just bought it and download has done, now all that i cand do is enjoy my free month and see what happen. Anyway Warhammer is very diferent now after the last patch, is a good idea to back and give a second chance for this game. I was thinking about stop to play War but, after ti, I will give a chance for FAION and then, chose the game that i will stay playing.
The next patch is suppose to greatly increase the xp given by quest for you babies that want to be spoon feed. We are talking about quest that once gave 17k giving 700k. That way when you get to 50 in 2 weeks youll have something new to cry about...no end game content....cause most new games put end game stuff later.....the cry baby generation of mmos will never be happy...they are worst than spammers in game...you just dont stop ....you go wha wha wha all day long for every game released.
Too bad I couldn't ask him quesions because there are three I would like to ask:
1. Are you guys aware you have a forum and do you ever plan on using it for informative purposes, communicating with players, and using stickies so people don't post the same issues/questions over and over?
2. Is someone looking into the issues a lot seem to be having in fortress battles such as constant crashing or serious lag even though they are using a pc at the recommended settings the company said was neeeded or better?
3. Followup to the bot quesion: So if you do have these tools in place to catch botters is there some serious work being done to improve these functions or hiring additional staff seeing how some have gone on botting for weeks now even though they are being reported?
I'm really enjoying this game but the level of support I'm seeing it get from NCSoft is very dissappointing and there are some areas that need looking into sooner rather than later. It's a good game, but it could be a lot better even in it's current condition if more of an effort was made by NCSoft from a customer service/support angle.
Indeed, the babies are crying once again. if they cant have it right now they cry until they get their way.
Im sure the babies will cry about not being given the number one pvp title. "Its so unfair that billy can have that title and i cant, i know what i'll do i will whine and cry until someone listens"
i really wish they would split the genre so i dont have to play with these morons anymore..
actually, considering that NCsoft doesn't listen to the western audience, any XP increase is from the Eastern front QQing, not the Western. All content patches come from them and are localized for our version.
So you can't put all the blame on the Elmo generation this time.
This has been quoted for truth. NCSoft will not hear your cries. They never have, and they never will. You and your subscription do not matter to NCSoft. They know their game is by and large engaging and fun, and just like Lineage II, it will continue to make money for the company despite whatever percent of the population thinks the game is crap.
Well, I logged in and the chat spam was gone (at least).
My 24 cleric was still instant killed by assassins the second he tried to go out and do anything.
Still a S*&t game. Still would not advise anyone to waste their money on it.
So it's a shit game because you died?
I thought he answered the questions fairly well and he admitted NCSoft made a mistake with not enough servers. They've also added an updating spam filter and have had a major wave of bans. There still is the flaw where people crash in populated areas and that is being worked on. I myself don't have that problem and understand for people who do it is a game breaker. However I'm not about to unsubscribe because others are having those problems and I'm not.
Yea they really have fixed the spam issue. The past few days I've logged on I haven't seen one thing.
I'm so tired of these fools on these forums cry every night. IMO NcSoft has made every effrot to make the game enjoyable for everyone. Every major issue that has happend in the game is either being addressed or they have fixed. People have to stop and look at the big picture...bots are not just some punks hacking the game. These are professional criminals that are not easy to get rid of. The spam problem is all but gone and they even gave an ingame item to people after they patched.
NcSoft may not be a new company but in my opinion they have shown they are williing to do what it takes to make a great game experience. Just because they don't jump on your personal issue that don't mean they don't care. Stop acting like your the center of the world and think about the world around you first.
Back to the topic, after 1 month I enjoy the game and therea re things they need to work on. But over all its been great for me and my friends. Great going NCsoft!!
So as a paying customer as of today I will never be able to have more than 8 playable guys? This will be a killer of this game.
I found it depressing that MMORPG.com in the guise of Jon Wood wanted to know how long people take on average to reach maximum level. MMO’s are not a race and end game is the area that the devs only spent about 5% of their time developing in any MMO. So to rushing through to the most poorly developed section is rather dumb.
I could hope he was trying to show how long it takes to reach maximum level, but I am afraid he wanted to show us how short it was. :(
Making chat channels only available from level 5+ would kill the spam until it could be sorted out.
[quote]I'm so tired of these fools on these forums cry every night. IMO NcSoft has made every effrot to make the game enjoyable for everyone.[/quote]
Yes and I'm sure these fools are just as tired with people like you with statements like "they have made every effort" etc. As you are so bold in telling us they are making every effort then these fools have also made "Every Effort" to try and support NCSoft. It must be true because I have just said it. Sorry but that is what you are going by... they said this so its gospel.
Maybe if you read peoples comments on why they are upset you might at least understand why people are annoyed. I cancelled my Aion account after 3 weeks of playing. The game in general is a good but it lacks many qualities that would make it an amazing game. I don't need to list them as even on MMORPG there are already plenty of posts with a very long list of what is missing and what can be improved.
I also don't find spending 20+mins every day blocking gold spammers so I can use general, LFG channels and even the trade channel. Just because they say they are dealing with it holds little weight when you are online and see the same name spamming for at least an hour if not more. If there are GM's in this game are they not on the server or are they just on a break during that time.
The support for the game is beyond a joke and one of the biggest fails of the game. If you have any problems at all then it's an online ticket. They don't even respond on the main forums so you get 100s of the same posts and just comes across that it falls on deaf ears.
But then I'm sure I'm just another one of those fools who wants too much and just complains for the fun of it. Not if I'm paying for the game or anything and its ofc all my fault and the sun shines from NCSoft behind.
As I said, enjoyed it for a few weeks but Aion has a lot of work to have done to it before it becomes a great game. Is it too late for all this to be done? no idea but for me for now I'll leave it for now and maybe in the future I may return.
The spam was never really the biggest issue. Lot of people with an actual brain knew how to rightclick and block the spammers.
It was highly annoying! yes! They needed to do something about it! yes! But it only took me 30 seconds each time when I entered the game to block these spamming idiots.
It's all the bots and cheaters in this game that is THE BIG problem and will ulitimately be this game's downfall. Pure and simple!
NCSoft has always been lazy and crap at dealing with RMT and bots.
RMT companies and cheating players (up to whole guilds/legions even) have been botting and selling/buying gold for years in NCSoft's other games (Lineage 1 and 2).
Hence, it's not even a secret that a lot of guilds in Lineage 2 even have requirements for new members to use a bot program when they are not playing and buy gold to gear themselves out ASAP.
It's just a matter of time and it will be the same crap for AION. In a way it's already happening. Just have a look at some of the Character info pages and see how many players have bought Kinah to kit themselves out in full gold sets already. It's a joke!
No sane / legit player is going to stick around long in a game that is litterly infested with bots and cheaters and in wich this behaviour is more the norm then an exception.
Cheers
I fully agree, and that is why I canceled my account. I was lured in by all of the hype and great press. I am amazed with how the game looks and plays, but the infrastructure within the game is horrible and needs to be addressed.
The gold spammers/bots and long wait times appear to have been addressed and handled well so far.
The game is allot more grindy than I had thought with allot more repetition than I thought too. I had hoped there were going to be a greater variety of NPC''s than what are ingame.
It takes allot longer than what I had thought to level to 25. Too long in fact. Drops for unique items or items necessary for quest completition just aren't there. Too few and need to be improved on.
Crafting takes forever to learn and there is nothing special about it. I would have hoped crafting allowed you to make unique items, but I haven't found that to be the case. There is nothing that you craft you can't buy at the auction house.
Classes appear to be well balanced, but, nothing unique to each class. You can solo, but its easier to level in groups. The game is about group play at higher levels which I don't really agree with.
The game is still beautiful to be in, but way too grindy, taking too long to reach a PvP level.
You don't have to thankfully. You can go play Dark Fall with the rest of the elitist pricks.
People like you trashed others with problems and game "requirements" in AOC and WAR when they came out and people complained. It was not until MASSIVE numbers left that you idiots realized those complaints were legitimate.
If you want a good game, support the COMMUNITY of PLAYERS. The devs are making money, they don't need your support and none of us want to listen to your crap.
Problems exist and need to be fixed. NCsoft is NOT fixing them. This guy was spouting his BS for Public Relations purposes and everyone knows this.
Honestly I don't see why so many people bash others who say they have problems. The idea is to have fun and if people are not having fun there might be a problem. If it is a small number of people maybe they are just whining, but HUGE numbers are complaining about the same things. That tells me the GAME has real issues that need to be addressed more quickly by the parent company.
Wow, this post turned into a serious flame vs. flame war! I honestly can see both sides of the issue. AION is a lovely game, and as I am taking my time to explore the content and not rush to level I'm truely having fun. Thankfully I am part of a legion that allows me to do this and not rush to level cap. That being said I also have options for grouping with legion mates thus listening only to legion chatter which means I don't have to watch all the craziness that goes on in the other chat channels.
Now about the gold sellers and bots. This has always been a problem for NCSoft, and other companies. It just seems to be more prevalent in their games Like Lineage II and now AION. I actually quit Lineage II because of the bots, trying to level up from level 1 in there was truely painful because you had multiple bot teams out farming constantly. And if you killed one of them so you could hunt their "enforcer" would kill you in short order... I truely hope that this doesn't happen to AION, and so far so good for me.
I am also hoping that things will calm down after the 24th which is when most people's free time will expire. Although then I'm certain the discussion will resume, but more in regards of does NCSoft really care since the accounts are being paid for...
Ah well, I guess i'll just have to keep playing and see what shakes out.
So on another words this game was another FAILURE?, so we wait for another year or so and hoping we see a decent game =/......
I don't know that anyone would call Anion a failure at this early point in release. Certainly there are bugs being still worked out.
I just think there is allot of content that can be improved on over the course of the next few months to make the game more attractive to all.
*shakes head*
Aion is at heart, at end level, a PvP MMOG as far as I'm concerned... I'll try to subject things into sections.
From what I've heard, there is no point in grinding to 50 just to do PvE. I've heard that instances many times doesn't drop rewarding loot from bosses, and that the instance run itself doesn't really give a lot of XP.
So other then instances, you grind to 50, and if you are a solo player, you start to grind mobs at 50, for in-game money and the eventual "good" drop.
The raids I've looked at looks alright I guess, but it comes entirely down to how the loot aspect of it works, in my opinion, which is something I don't know.
I ditched out at level 21, as a sorcerer. Bored to tears, I couldn't take it anymore as I couldn't find even a bit of entertainment value. Many will think that opinion is pure bullox, but each to their own, no need to get offensive. We're all gamers, struggling to find that one good game to have fun in.
The problem with people that wants more hardcore is that they just jump on people that wants an easier ride, without seemingly questioning it first. I can understand them though, seeing as it's the same the other way around. But quite honestly, when will ever humans change, in that regard? At least people that love gaming, they are a kind of their own.
I value my time on earth as a human being, regardless of how silly that might sound to the person reading this, go ahead, laugh, the jokes on me =)
When I sit down one day, and put 2-3 hours into a game, if I have the time for it, I want to see that my experience bar has moved quite a bit, regardless if I'm level 15 or if I'm level 43, that doesn't matter to me.
So then the issue becomes, that people who put 8 hours (or more) per day into an MMOG will reach end level insanely fast, in such a game. But seriously, that's their problem, they will most likely get burnt out from doing so. And if a person spends that much time per day infront of the computer, just gaming, then that really isn't healthy, but that's not for me to say.
I have never been the hardcore type, I started my MMO gaming experience with Everquest Online Adventures on the Playstation 2 console, many many years ago. I probably played for about a year before getting a single character to end level which was 50 on that game, at least in Europe.
The point being, there needs to be a middle ground. All the people saying: "Oh, they cried for an easier game and now they got it, whaaaa!! whaaaaaaaa!! *sobs*"
What's the point? As the industry has progressed it has just become more about playing at end game then having "fun" leveling.
And the quality, or rather, lack of quality, in todays MMO game releases, first hand, shows why it has gotten like that.
You can figure that one out for yourself...
For some, that might be sad, but it's just what the industry has turned it in to, along with all the players that has gotten burnt out over the years, from countless MMOG's.
So I've heard that Aion will have a patch where leveling goes faster, which I think is good. But regardless, I don't think I'd go back and try it afterwards, because it's the type of game I classify as an "asian grinder". I have never been a huge fan of those, westernization or not. A game will be what it is at the core, regardless. MMO game developers haven't started thinking outside the box enough yet to make it otherwise, at least not asian MMO game developers.
Today, you need to create an online world, that brings everything viable to the player, right away, that's something I really believe in at least.
In a game with PvE and PvP. Starting at level 1 if you so wish it. Alternate advancement is the key, regardless of it being a bit unbalanced.
Let players quest to end level if they want, and let them do that at a reasonable speed, too slow, and you'll lose a hefty amount of your playerbase. I honestly think that a lot less players choose to leave a game over it being too quick then too slow, at least that's how I see it.
Back to the point, let them quest at a reasonable speed if they want to, if they prefer to grind, no problem, pure grinding will advance you at around the same speed as quest grinding would. What I praised Warhammer Online for, even though I'm not a huge PvP fan, is that it allowed you PvP already from level 1 if you so wished it. Player choice, the way it should be.
What I disliked about it, was that leveling strictly through PvP was a lot slower then grinding through PvE, which is where one of the flaws of Warhammer Online is.
Let people advance in an MMOG around the exact same paces regardless of if they enjoy to PvE quest, grind or purely do PvP. When you reach end level, while doing either, it's gonna have taken around the same time. That way, when you get a little tired of one, you can switch to the other, and don't start getting bummed out, because that choice is slower.
To date, I don't think that there's a single MMOG out on the market, that offers this solution.
But in my mind, alternate advancement is the future of MMO gaming. Give players a real choice, not just choices that hardly matters, which is how things are in a lot of the current MMOG's on the market.
There's a lot more I can add to this, but I've got things to do, besides I think this wall of text has gotten big enough already.
Regardless of how you, the person that reads this, feels about my take on things, I like you anyway <3 =)
Why, I must be a carebear then, oh noez, run for the hills! ;) *jumps around while making unusual bear sounds*
At first the wait times were annoying, I have not had to wait to get in now though for 2 weeks!
The gold spammers were horribly annoying but once you learn to right click names in chat and ignore- its no problem. Even that has not happened much in the past week- they are really cleaning them up good now!
The one thing that IS still annoying me to death though is the bot farmers. You get someone with 5 people attached to them and are running an area over and over and over while you are trying to get a quest done but before you get tot he mob their super fast bot cheats have allowed them to intercept your kill from half way across the screen; rinse and repeat. AND there is still no in-game help system for anything; they still tell you to go to the website to place a complaint. It takes too damn long for me to cntr+ESC and wait for my browser to pop up for me to do this EVERY single time I see a cheat. This (th ein game assistance ) definitely should have been in place at launch- PERIOD. I am sure the game lost some good players due to this issue, but fix it like NOW and they may come back. Me and hubby are still hanging in there and are lvl 25 and in the ABYSS playing around.
For those who quit prior to hitting lvl 25- you really missed out...the grind after 15-25 is boring yes to some extent- try grouping or joining a legion cause once you hit 25 omg the fun is back! Also yes the Abyss is very much group oriented- but guess what....there are tons of others there just stop being stiff anti-social pricks and help when they ask or join in the battle as a group member- I got 5 kills my first night in because I decided to do my best and help- even though im only lvl 25. Me and hubby duo 90% of the time and had 2 zergs get us but in 5 hours out there- thats not that bad if you think about it.
The reason why the que has balanced is cause people stopped playing, the fine line you walked, is typical of every MMO, ever think of trying something different?? of couse not. gotta love these companys who use each and every tactic that every mmo uses, ever think about using a different strategy that just might be successful and not a total failure like all these other mmos, Aion = Epic fail watch and see
lmao no
try the game, it is a little rough as far as leveling and cost of things go, but if you enjoy a good challenge this is the best game i have played in many years...
I agree. It's fun and challenging. A bigger challenge than WoW which might not be saying much, but I'm having fun.
The community is good too, after WoW, haven't seen the level of interaction in chat till I got to this game. As far as queue's leveling out because people are quitting? That's an asumption on your part....I just rolled a priest on my server and the newbie area was packed with uh, newbies? A good sign that people either are not quitting, or are interested enough....a month later...to roll another toon. IMHO
Talk about not knowing what your talking about lol.
Mob XP is better than questing for a large majority of the game, aside from a few quests that are really big bonuses.
Grouping is the best form of XP from the 20's UNTIL near level 40, where soloing has an advantage aside from certain areas.
Quest rewards - depend on the difficulty of teh quest.
Forts perforamnce is just fine, only issue is random dc's, but they are much more playable then AoC, WAR, or even Wintergrasps "large scale PvP" - with a hell of a lot more people then Wintergrasp.
Fort rewards poor? You get the best gear in the game from the medals you get from them!
If the PvE death penalty reaches rediculous levels - stop dying so much.
Leveling to 50 takes approx 12 days play time, which is average compared to many other MMO's at release - even WoW at release people were BRAGGING about 10-12 days to max level - AND THEY WERE SELLING GUIDES ON HOW TO LEVEL THAT FAST ON EBAY! It was not until years in that people learned how to do it in 7 days.
Trolling FTL.
Ok now here's my question: What were you folks putting into your pipe to smoke when you decided against making a NICE (yes, I said nice) rigorous chain of level 30 armor quests that should have included a long adventurous (and divine) strand of lore? So instead you decided to put on Asian eyes and make it so that we have to level 5 different toons to 30 to get the full set. That's just being pure lazy imo. Kinda like something you just decided to let be as is right before your lunch break.
This, my fellow gamers, is what I mean when I talk about there is just no immersion nor depth in the PvE storyline. Ok yeah, you have amazing cinematics which do bring something new to the table, but I am sure everyone can do without that in order to have a nice feeling of immersion and storyline being braided in with their constant character progression. Needless to say I'm looking over the horizon for the next (I'm really starting to call these) attempts at a good MMORPG.
Game is mediocre -
The main thing that has had me not playing for two weeks now is the horrid ping.
All the servers are in one location on the east coast and pings are 3 to 400 + for us on the west coast -
Totally unacceptable Big Waste of 60 bucks, NO SUPPORT ON THE OFFICIAL FORUMS - And a lame excuses to why that they cannot post on their own forums.
AOC had better support at launch if that says anything.
My finger right here.
Talk about not knowing what your talking about lol.
Mob XP is better than questing for a large majority of the game, aside from a few quests that are really big bonuses.
Grouping is the best form of XP from the 20's UNTIL near level 40, where soloing has an advantage aside from certain areas.
Quest rewards - depend on the difficulty of teh quest.
Forts perforamnce is just fine, only issue is random dc's, but they are much more playable then AoC, WAR, or even Wintergrasps "large scale PvP" - with a hell of a lot more people then Wintergrasp.
Fort rewards poor? You get the best gear in the game from the medals you get from them!
If the PvE death penalty reaches rediculous levels - stop dying so much.
Leveling to 50 takes approx 12 days play time, which is average compared to many other MMO's at release - even WoW at release people were BRAGGING about 10-12 days to max level - AND THEY WERE SELLING GUIDES ON HOW TO LEVEL THAT FAST ON EBAY! It was not until years in that people learned how to do it in 7 days.
Trolling FTL.
This is actually pretty accurate. The game does seem grindy if you don't know what you are doing, which is largely because the game doesn't really hold your hand. You have to go out looking for quests & things to do. Getting to lvl 25 can be done in under a week, even if you don't play 24/7 or bot. The people complaining about the grind at lvl 25 makes look pretty stupid to anyone who has played the game at that point. You get access to 2 dungeons at 25 which (alone) can launch you to lvl 29 in a matter of days. You could probably get up there in a single day if they didn't lock you into only running a dungeon once per day.
What did it for me was 2 things:
1) Crashing bug. This needs to be fixed asap, but I think that goes without saying. Very frustrating, especially during fortress raids.
2) PvP. I got to do quite a bit of it (30+) and realized it just wasn't all that fun. The maps are so confined that it really limits the amount of solo / small skirmish fights to be had in the game. The larger combat seems to also always turn into either a farm fest, or a pissing content between the range classes (aka the ol' mexican standoff). For a game that offers the dimensions of flight, there is surprisingly little mobility in the combat. It generally gets locked in to a single location, and trying to flank usually doesn't do much but get you killed, as numbers in this game are easily much more important than skill.
Also, the battle obj's in the game are way too passive imho. There is one which whipes the entire enemy force, which is alright, but the others don't really do much other than give passive bonus'. The bonsus' help a lot, but they don't really feel engaging or fun. It'd be nice if there were siege weapons or something tied to each artifact that would make taking the fortress they surround easier, or to help defend the artifact should it be attacked.
It's a good game, and surprisingly easy to progress in (i know this may be hard to believe for some, but I've made alts like crazy in this game and it gets faster and faster each time), however the game still feels horribly linear and shallow of much depth at all. The limit to 8 characters per account is also pretty annoying as well, I hope they change this soon.
You hit it right on the button! One day a game developer will realize they can offer people choices in MMO's and that game will be succesful.
Wow I can not believe how many haters their are on AION.
My experience has been up and down. The first week was tough with 5 hour wait times but that was cleared up into the 2nd week on ZIKEL but I was upset that I did a pre-buy to get ahead took a day off of work and in my 1st 3 days only got 4 hours of game time :(.
The bots have been cleaned out twice at least on Zikel and you see a difference for about a day. The Spamming is almost completely gone and I think that is because they made it where you can't shout until a certain level.
I am a little surprised about the lvl 50 in 300 hours. I have played almost 350 hours (of course have had some time spent on another account withthe daughter) but am only at LVL 35.
This game overall though has met and exceeded my expectations and I am still trying to recruit my friends over. I see a constant increase of people coming over from other games and majority are loving it.
i had more fun in Tabula Rasa than this game....
still glad i switch to Fallen Earth, and the plus side i've yet to see one single gold (chips in this case) spam... probably because the chat is always monitored by at least 2 GMs, with the Hazmat crew around Help if needed.