Quite simply, Aion is OFTEN compared to Perfect world for several big reasons. 

First off is the similar "asian" art direction  that they both go in, although AIon takes a more ethereal stance, to Perfect World's staucnh, ancient China setting. 

Next is the character creation system, which is completely stunning in both games.  In my own experience, Perfect World's is a little player unfriendly in terms of complexity while Aion's with probably half the variables(still a sizeable amount) is much more accessable by the average player. 

Next is the wings.  Yes, both games have wings, and both games have fliying combat, although, Aion's combat is a bit more fast paced with a combo system to compliment the fighting animations. 

Graphically, although Perfect World has excellent graphics for a free to play game, Aion utilizes the Cryengine which powered the first person shooter "Farcry", and even though it's not the Unreal 3 engine, it is still a major improvement for an MMO. 

Leveling in PW vs. Aion.  Well... Perfect world is a bit more grindy in comparison.  Yes, quests are availiable all the way up to 60,  unfortunatly, the ratio between amount of exp needed per level, vs the amount gained in quests grows exponentially per level and while it's certainly nowhere near lineage 2, it is far more than the majority of MMOer's want to commit to.  Aion's is somwhere between WoW and PW's leveling speed.  Many find WoW to be a fast leveler, but more casual gamers rather enjoy it.  I would estimate Aion's leveling speed to be somwhere around 25-50% slower than WoW's and that is saying something. 

PvP.  Perfect World has a territorial system in which guilds can take control of territories on a map each week, during a scheduled battle.  These provide income as well as a certain pride factor for the controlling faction.  Aion uses a similar system, but instead of entire territories, single fortresses may be controlled, and instead of the free for all style guild pvp, it uses an RvR setting.  Aion also has a hero system, which is basically a buff to players who have done super good in world pvp, and allows them to cast a ten minute spell on themselves increasing their attack and health by many times.  SInce there can only be so many per server, a faction with a hero player on their side during a battle, can have a severe advantage. 

Payment system.   Perfect World is free to play with a cash shop system.  Aion is a free download with a monthly fee of roughly $15USD.  Pros and cons? Simply put, nobody likes to pay, so there is always an allure to games that cost nothing.  The cash shop however, is a big mistake, particularly in pvp.  When you can buy items to give you an edge, you have a broken system, and indeed, there are tarots which automatically restore a player's health or mana when they reach a certain point, only purchasable through the cash shop.  Aion's P2P system is a pretty basic and commonly used system.   The gaurenteed income for the subscribers means more frequent updates and patches as well as expansions and better customer service.  In the end though it really comes to how much you spent and whether its worth it.  For me, if I'm gonna dish out top dollar,  it better have awesome graphics and excellent customer service.

I know your thinking "well you haven't played PW before, how can you know".  I played it...... for months.  And I've played sufficient other MMO's to at least know a little bit about what I'm talking about. 

Fans of PW and Otherwise, what are your opinions, and don't just say Aion is a PW rip off for one thing, PW was in development for three years prior its full release (including a year of beta) while was in development for 5 years prior its korean release in november last year. 

I’m surprised anyone is ill informed enough to be comparing PW (which I believe was originally released in China in 2005) with Aion.

PW is a conventional cash shop grinder by design, nothing that requires more than a handful of brain cells.
 

Having played PW for about 10 days now there are some complaints that people make that I cannot understand.

The cash shop complaint is retarded.  You can buy the cash shop gold through the auctionhouse for approximately 100k coins for 1 gold.  At the higher levels money making becomes easier and those charms that regenerate mp and hp are decently cheap.  So really if you are someone who is dedicated to being the best in this game, you can easily do it without paying a dime - you just need to invest lots of time.

Can someone who is willing to shell out lots of money get stuff quicker?  Yeah... so?  They are contributing money to the game (they need money ya know) and their advantage is only time.  You can invest time over money to get the same stuff they have.

If there was no gold trading at the auctionhouse available the cash shop complaint would be valid as there would be no way for others to get the stuff people who paid cash for.  But there is gold trading, which makes this complaint retarded.

Perfect world owns aion, pretty much sums up what these other guys are trying to say

Perfect World is simply the best, in all areas. My main char is at lev 56 and I've been so busy with quests, I haven't started grinding yet.

I admit that, as a cleric, I have to use  charms but they are available from other players and/or the auction house, so players can go all the way to the end without ever visiting the cash shop.

well u might be playing on a pve server idk, but on pvp as an archer i started running low on quest at 40+ but i just lvled off the daily quest i dont care for grinding, im lvl 46 now and iv been so busy pking i have 140 hours of infamous on me that i cant leave sz w/o being tracked lol so i just do the daily now

Originally posted by Feldazin

Perfect world owns aion, pretty much sums up what these other guys are trying to say

Sorry that's not true at all.  AION had a 40 million dollar budget and uses the Cry engine.  There is no comparision at all.  I have played both and AION is far superior (and to be fair...newer).

Looks wise I think Aion wins hands down, easily.

Content wise just going off of what I've seen of both games I'd give Perfect World the nod.  It does have plenty to do.

So the winner is, Atlantica Online!  hehehe, just playing

Well the flight thing in Aion is definitely overhyped.  Perfect World owns Aion when it comes to flight.  I think Aion has a better quest system although PW's is not that bad.  But I agree pvp in PW is completely dependent on how much you spend in the item shop.

This is an interesting thread.  I was lead to believe that AION completely owned PWI but based on what I'm reading here it may not seem to be the case.

I love flying in PWI and the graphics and content are amazing.  The thing that I have seen so far about AION is that the PvP aspect and leveling aspect may be better and less grindy.  The fact AION is P2P may help eliminate some of the unsavory elements caused by the push to generate Cash Shop sales in PWI.  The graphics in AION seem to look better but then my experience is only from the highly edited promo vids.

If AION is barely able to offer basic flying, which from what i gather is time limited, that is a big negative for me. 

Also, unlike some people I don't like the idea that the visual customization of chars is more limited in AION.  One of the reasons I never played Wow is the cartoony look of that game.

Can someone clarify some of this? 

Originally posted by avalon1000

Originally posted by Feldazin

Perfect world owns aion, pretty much sums up what these other guys are trying to say

 

Sorry that's not true at all.  AION had a 40 million dollar budget and uses the Cry engine.  There is no comparision at all.  I have played both and AION is far superior (and to be fair...newer).

It was 100 million.

Aion's combat sucks. Probably of the worst in the industry. The flying is worse in Aion. The look and feel is slightly better in Aion. The argument of having to buy in the cash shop is mute and stupid because:

A. You buy into Aion's "cash shop" every month for $15 a month whether you want to or not...

B. You can buy everything in the cash shop with in game coin.

Aion has 2 starting areas, PWI has 3. The classes are cooler in Aion, for the most part. Crafting sucks in both games, with an extra edge on suck for Aion (The animations are absolutely horrid). The PvP is about the same, although Aion has a disadvantage because of their terrible combat system. I think PWI wins on variety as there are 3 completely different races that are unique from each other. Aion has 2 races... sorta, as they're really the same race with slight differences.

The UI in Aion is decent, although is isn't fully fleshed out... it probably won't change. PWI's UI is bleh. It's ok, but it "forgets" where you set everything and windows open on top of one another all the time... PWI's keymapping and mouse settings are "unchangeable", so if you don't like the way it's set up... too bad.

They both have their pros and cons. They're both good games. I got tired of the PvP thing after a while anyways, which is not an option in Aion, you have to PvP. It just becomes rock/paper/scissors after a while, and the "detriments" to ganking in Aion are laughable at best.

I've played both. Personally... I prefer Perfect World because I enjoy the game play and feel of the game more than Aion. ^-^ But Aion is still pretty kewl.

Originally posted by Feldazin

Perfect world owns aion, pretty much sums up what these other guys are trying to say

I have played both, that's how I know you are joking.

Originally posted by avalon1000

Originally posted by Feldazin

Perfect world owns aion, pretty much sums up what these other guys are trying to say

 

Sorry that's not true at all.  AION had a 40 million dollar budget and uses the Cry engine.  There is no comparision at all.  I have played both and AION is far superior (and to be fair...newer).

Lol... comparing  a F2P MMO to a P2P mmo is like comparing a Kia to a BMW

Originally posted by bahamut1

Aion's combat sucks. Probably of the worst in the industry.

lmao, one of the worst arguments I've seen against Aion.

You couldn't be more wrong.

Originally posted by avalon1000

Originally posted by Feldazin

Perfect world owns aion, pretty much sums up what these other guys are trying to say

 

Sorry that's not true at all.  AION had a 40 million dollar budget and uses the Cry engine.  There is no comparision at all.  I have played both and AION is far superior (and to be fair...newer).

So... a (presumably) higher budget and the Cry engine make it a better game... beyond comparison?

Pretty shallow criteria, in my opinion.

We must be playing a different Perfect world, because the one I played was horrible. I mean Runes of magic is 1000 times better than PW and that is also free to play.  So comparing Aion to Perfect world is just plain silly.

Originally posted by EllieX

This is an interesting thread.  I was lead to believe that AION completely owned PWI but based on what I'm reading here it may not seem to be the case.

 

I love flying in PWI and the graphics and content are amazing.  The thing that I have seen so far about AION is that the PvP aspect and leveling aspect may be better and less grindy.  The fact AION is P2P may help eliminate some of the unsavory elements caused by the push to generate Cash Shop sales in PWI.  The graphics in AION seem to look better but then my experience is only from the highly edited promo vids.

 

If AION is barely able to offer basic flying, which from what i gather is time limited, that is a big negative for me. 

 

Also, unlike some people I don't like the idea that the visual customization of chars is more limited in AION.  One of the reasons I never played Wow is the cartoony look of that game.

 

Can someone clarify some of this? 

  I played PW MY for more than 1year, and have to say the graphics in PW are one of the best in the free MMORPG market.

But compared to AIONs graphics....IT is a BIG difference (moving hairs, all the colours, just everything) and PW is no match to AION.  I am also wondering that AION has such nice graphics and is still running smooth on most average PCs.

The biggest 2reasons why i played PW for a long time and now gonna play AION is, that they both have a really creative char creation system and flying systems. About the char creation, i prefere the AION one, coz if you make a male Blademaster in PW for example, somehow the face is always looking asiatic( or chinese). I never managed to make a male char that looks like a western guy in PW. In AION you can easily make both types and others.

About the flying system i cant say anything in AION coz i havent reached the lvl for it yet. But the flying in PW is good coz you dont have any restrictions where you can fly etc... I heared its not that free in AION to fly, but i am not sure.

But what i am really missing in AION is, swimming... you cant swim lol. .....I hope they will change this later. It is even enough if its like in Lotro, that you cant dive but swim on the surface.

But all in all, i am satisfied with AION right now. But sure PW is also a nice game, so i am sure i will find some time to log into PWtoo :)

But Lord of the Rings Online is still the BEST :))

I think this really comes down to... Do you want for mmo to cost a lot and look shiny? or look ok, and be totally awesome.

1. Big thing with Aion, is that every one is like "OMFG! THIS LOOKS SWEET!" That gives the programmers room to hide stuff under the shiny.

2. Perfect world is not with out its flaws.