This is what Aion should have been at launch.   Now it is truly hitting epic awesomeness.   More games should add housing and seasons.   With the upcoming water expansions - this game will be one of the most epic games on the market.

Aion 3.0 Trailer - The Promised Land

HOLY CRAP this looks outstanding!!!!

I was there at launch, for about three months, and quit due to the midlevel grind. I remember running Fire Temple over and over and over haha!

Im definitely going to check this out though. The question is

WHEN IS IT SUPPOSED TO HIT? Im thinking its going to be a long long while....

Originally posted by Teala

This is what Aion should have been at launch. 

Some people were actually content with aion's premise at launch, Not what it "could, should or will be"

Personally I played in the China beta was happy with what i did there (because the genisis of this game did not happen with a NA release so your point above is obscure) and I actually read the aion box with there promises of seemless PvPvE, epic abyss battles and "rifting".

Fast forward today, And we have talk of seperating servers, Instanced pvp, Arenas, Mounts, Rift nerfs, and increased ease of use..So, grabbing my aion box off the shelf and reading it now, theres absoulty no reason to sub to it because it does pretty much nothing it says on the box today.

Now, why am i against such "innovations" such as above? because aion was doing it diffrent, Or atleast had a diffrent spin. Although graphicly it did look like wow, It did not play like it. imo its gotten to the stage now where it has most of wows features why dont people just play wow?

Personal housing is a very good step for any mmorpg and the addition of weather effects also lends it's to a more lush game experience (at least on the eyes) but the addion of mounts frustrates me no end in a game that has wings. It used to be a substancial driving force to aqure better, faster more artfull wings. Now that we have "mounts" in the game i supose the spotlight is going to be taken away from that. and what is aion without wings? 

I like just about everything except the housing and thats hard for someone who loves housing in games as much as I do.  It just seems so unnatural.  A house with one big room with a freakisly tall ceiling?  Why not houses similar to how the ones in EQ2, DFO, or VG are done where they seem more realistic.  I dont like the victorian furnitre as much but I could get over that if the house wasnt a massive studio appartment in the shape of a two story house.

Haven't played since Beta... this could bring me back.

i,m absolutely gutted they never did a couple of pve servers for this game..i would have loved to have played it all the way thru..btw 3.0 looks great.

i already came back and having a lot of fun, only thing thats turning me off is the world chat is just as bad as wow trade chat

Aion 3.0 - The Empty Land, too late NC.

The game had fantastic potential, but now serves as lessons in how to lose player numbers.

Next time NC need to pass supervision of the western game to a third party, preferably one that has a significant expereience with the western playerbase.

If the consequences are that the western version becomes a noticeably different game than the Asian one, then so be it. 

The history of NC changes in this game shows that they just didn't understand the best way forward for the western market. It is too late to say that now the game is different from the launch version. Large players numbers have gone. A small number  will always float backwards and forwards, sme with any game.

But the opportunity for this to be more than a niche game in the west has long gone.

Will decline further with new game launches, especially GW2. NC's next offering Blade & Soul is round the corner. Hopefully they have learnt the lessons here, but only time will tell.

Too late.  Looks like great stuff, but simply too late.  By the time it's localized here TOR will be out with GW2 right around the corner.  The only poeple that will pay attention will be the ones already playing Aion and dedicated to staying with that game.

Looks awesome. Wandering when it hits EU.

I dont know, that looked like the new Sims 4, rumor is they are adding combat.

Originally posted by Hokie

I dont know, that looked like the new Sims 4, rumor is they are adding combat.

Phew...

Thought I was the only one who was wondering where all these went to:

Second half looked good I guess, nothing spectacular.

Looks good but I will not resub without PVE severs.

Originally posted by Calavry

Looks good but I will not resub without PVE severs.

Seems a strange quote for a pvp game - but is it?

Creating pve servers would seem to go against the initial concept of the game. However, NC have been attempting to juggle between appeasing both pve and pvp players on the same servers since game launch - with little success. Succeeding only in frustrating both sets of player types.

The common reply to pve servers is "go play something else" - lo and behold, that is precisely what players did, hence the server reductions all over the west.

I see nothing wrong with having pvp and pve servers. Players pick what they want, and are allowed to play the style they want.

But it's flogging a dying horse here as the game is aimed at the eastern market,  with little or no devotion to the west from the developers. A previous poster has hit the nail on the head, saying that this latest update may keep hold of existing players who are tied into the game, but little else in terms of growth.

Ultimately, Aion history is frustrating. It had so much poterntial. Good story, excellent graphics, great character customization, one of the best UI and lfg mechanisms around. Potential to have great fort battles (which could still take place on pve servers, as they do in other games).

But countered by so many things, that ultimately drove large player numbers away from the game. The two headliners being the awful RNG and NC support for the western game.

Now that looks awesome.  It could bring me back to Aion for sure but how long will it be?  I would think maybe summer earliest for here.

Originally posted by JudgeUK

Originally posted by Calavry

Looks good but I will not resub without PVE severs.

Seems a strange quote for a pvp game - but is it?

<>

What I've always loved about Aion is how you need to flog through PvE content to get to the PvP.

Aion lost its sense of direction long ago. 

It's a pity that the combat audio gives me a headache its unbearable.

Originally posted by JudgeUK

Aion 3.0 - The Empty Land, too late NC.

The game had fantastic potential, but now serves as lessons in how to lose player numbers.

Next time NC need to pass supervision of the western game to a third party, preferably one that has a significant expereience with the western playerbase.

If the consequences are that the western version becomes a noticeably different game than the Asian one, then so be it. 

The history of NC changes in this game shows that they just didn't understand the best way forward for the western market. It is too late to say that now the game is different from the launch version. Large players numbers have gone. A small number  will always float backwards and forwards, sme with any game.

But the opportunity for this to be more than a niche game in the west has long gone.

 

Will decline further with new game launches, especially GW2. NC's next offering Blade & Soul is round the corner. Hopefully they have learnt the lessons here, but only time will tell.

Aion is doing great and is the #2 Pay To Play MMO on the market. Of course it could have done better in the west but thats not its main market. Its main market is Asia and its doing fine there. Guild Wars 2, Blade & Soul, Wild Star, New Lineage game and Lineage 2 going FTP. What other mmo company out there is doing anything close to what NC Soft is doing? 

Originally posted by nerovipus32

It's a pity that the combat audio gives me a headache its unbearable.

In every promotial video from AION is better to turn the sound off (since 2007 at least)

 In-game, west version is diferent. 

Originally posted by Mannish

Originally posted by JudgeUK

Aion 3.0 - The Empty Land, too late NC.

The game had fantastic potential, but now serves as lessons in how to lose player numbers.

Next time NC need to pass supervision of the western game to a third party, preferably one that has a significant expereience with the western playerbase.

If the consequences are that the western version becomes a noticeably different game than the Asian one, then so be it. 

The history of NC changes in this game shows that they just didn't understand the best way forward for the western market. It is too late to say that now the game is different from the launch version. Large players numbers have gone. A small number  will always float backwards and forwards, sme with any game.

But the opportunity for this to be more than a niche game in the west has long gone.

 

Will decline further with new game launches, especially GW2. NC's next offering Blade & Soul is round the corner. Hopefully they have learnt the lessons here, but only time will tell.

 

Aion is doing great and is the #2 Pay To Play MMO on the market. Of course it could have done better in the west but thats not its main market. Its main market is Asia and its doing fine there. Guild Wars 2, Blade & Soul, Wild Star, New Lineage game and Lineage 2 going FTP. What other mmo company out there is doing anything close to what NC Soft is doing? 

 

Precisely - it could have done better in the west. You are entirely correct with saying that the main market is Asia. My statements refer to the west, which I pointed out.

Aion has again shown that their is a difference between the Asian and Western playerbase, not better or worse just different. That's fine, if we where all the same life would be terribly boring.  But if game developers like NC wish to have more success over here, they need to fully westernise their games, maybe  with help from local game companies.

If not, their next "big thing" over here will once again see significant player loss and server closures once the initial - "ooh it's new lets' try it" phase has passed.