Good preview but all I can say about the game Aion is meh. Aerial combat doesnt really appeal to me and it seems it's going the way of Age of Conan with the 'You are a big hero' thing. When theres thousands of big heroes running around it kinda loses its flair you see. The graphics are cool though and the big degree of character customization looks cool. I guess I'll just have to see whether or not its cool enough to warrant a buy.

Although I like the idea of flying, and I do agree it looks pretty, it simply won't be enough to topple WoW or even draw in a small but respectable income without something more.

I can already tell it won't run on me Dell laptop. Guess it's time to rob the liquor stores save my pennies to upgrade my game rig.

SirSchmoopy:
It's just guild wars repackaged.
There is zero innovation and the appeal of the game won't last past it's leveling curve.

There is NOTHING under the hood of this game if you have played NCSoft titles before but I mean if you haven't then you might have some fun with it but don't expect it to last.

I've played GuildWars for four years and I find it different enough to enjoy. GuildWars was pretty much Weapon/8 Skills/Team build, and that's your lot. Aion played MUCH differently.

The only thing that seems to cling it's claws in from GuildWars was the skillbar, and even that is larger, more complex and the fact you have 9(and then sub-bar things) of them instead of one.

Aerial combat does exist Funk. It's a whole different style, but it's dragged down by the flight limit (though it is immensely amusing to watch some guy you've been duelling in the air suddenly run out of steam and plummet to his death.

I only played to level 22, but it was a good experience. From what I've seen in previews of the 1.5 patch and the Korean updates, the endgame stuff is better than the beginning stuff. Flying over erupting volcanoes before jumping over rivers of lava to chase down a flying mob? Yes please.

Man...everything is freaking taunting me. Every time I try to start Aion my piece of crap computer goes to hell...

*Cries.*

to all you beta users ; is aion like guild wars in the way that is a single player game whit zones where you can talk to other people or like almost all the others where you share the world

swaki:
to all you beta users ; is aion like guild wars in the way that is a single player game whit zones where you can talk to other people or like almost all the others where you share the world

I really hope it's not. That ruined Guild Wars for me.

Anyone know when it comes out, by the way?

Cpt_Oblivious:

swaki:
to all you beta users ; is aion like guild wars in the way that is a single player game whit zones where you can talk to other people or like almost all the others where you share the world

I really hope it's not. That ruined Guild Wars for me.

Anyone know when it comes out, by the way?

Check their website. I think it said some time in September.

Will this game have a subscription fee? Or will it be free after you buy it?

Eh. It's a prettier, less shitty version of Rohan, from what I could tell. One that will cost you $15/mo when it's out in September (22-25, depending on where you live.)

swaki:
to all you beta users ; is aion like guild wars in the way that is a single player game whit zones where you can talk to other people or like almost all the others where you share the world

Nope.. there's a lot of pve content, but it's mostly open world, which means you're able to do it with other people. And after level 20 the open-world becomes pvp open-world, where asmodians/elyos can come to your land through 'rifts' and do some mayhem.

Internet Kraken:

Cpt_Oblivious:

swaki:
to all you beta users ; is aion like guild wars in the way that is a single player game whit zones where you can talk to other people or like almost all the others where you share the world

I really hope it's not. That ruined Guild Wars for me.

Anyone know when it comes out, by the way?

Check their website. I think it said some time in September.

Will this game have a subscription fee? Or will it be free after you buy it?

subscription fee and its out 25/09 at least in Europe.

Well I'm not really into MMOs, but this one looks really ineresting. I love it's art style, combat looks good. Thinking of preordering it, but might wait to get into beta and try it for myself.

And, as far as I know, it's Pay to Play, that is you pay for play hours.

Nothing will topple wow, most the people playing wow at this point are addicted to the game.
I wouldn't be surprised if many of them do without things just to chunk more money to blizzard.

The key to unseating WoW certainly lies in adding new dynamics that haven't apparently really been conceived yet. I am glad to at least see mmo's starting to improve the quality of the graphics, Aion at least seems to lend itself a bit of atmosphere which obviously could lead to better immersion.

Honestly I know the basics of combat in mmo's need to be made more interesting, make the grind less typical and predictable. The last 3 I've played personally I was able to create a "kill mob" macro that would actually target and kill the nearest mob with the press of one button. ...I don't know I guess I'm trying to inspire some brainstorming on this front but I feel I have failed miserably so I will stop there.

This is a game my wife wants to play (mostly because our old guild is considering joining up). It does look pretty and I'm on the fence about joining. I'm concerned of it becoming too much of a grind--or at least, feeling like one. I barely made it to 60 in WoW (pre-expansion) and stopped WAR 6 months.

Another sidestep in the evolution of MMORPGs, it would seem. It looks desperately uninspired.

Having played a beta event weekend of Aion, I found it to yet another Korean style MMO in the same styles as Rose, Luna and Ether Saga but with much better graphics.

The opening sections of the game were lacking in any real danger, you can walk through all the mobs without attacting attention...only when you attack do the monsters fight, although there was a few mobs at the later levels that had a aggro range and would attack you but then when I ascended the first area after acension returned to the non hostile mobs.

The flight mechanic is intresting, mostly due to the time limit which adds a level of strategic flight rather than just rendering flight as a new place to stand while fighting (I recall a rumour that mentioned the rift fights featured unlimited flight time which would take out the flight time stategic element).

The game looks good and performs well at the stage I tested it, there was little pop in of the scenery but not so noticable as some of the more recent high profile western mmo's like AoC and WAR.

My experience in the combat at the begining levels lead me to believe that it is the usual generic stuff of using a set of attacks with the only variations dictated by the cooldowns... however I wasnt plauged by 'you cannot move while...' or 'you need to ...' limitations of some other MMO's...it was relatively smooth.

All in all Aion is a solid MMO that doesnt bring any new elements to the genre but does what it does well.

AS TO WOW ... WoW is actually a rather bland MMO with crude graphics but developed its state as the MMO king by the simple fact it brought in a lot of gamers that would of never have tried a MMO.
It brought in a lot of RTS fans because of its brand name and made a MMO accesable to those players that were not used to MMO's that pre dated WoW, and as such its the first MMO of a large majority of new MMO gamers that see WoW in a more favourable light...and see any other MMO with a distictly harsh view that is hostile unless the MMO can prove its worth.
I still have fond memories of Ironforge and the outlying snow covered areas by Kharus etc etc and no other MMO has had the same effect since.

I'm in on the beta as well, and so far I love the game. It looks absolutely stunning, and the animations/style of the game is really nice. Mr. Funk, there are a few things I wish you would have mentioned:
1- You get different bonuses for moving while fighting. Side to side= better dodge/parry chance. moving forward makes you hit harder, and moving backwards decreases the damage you take. This prevents it from standing in one spot and spamming a button over and over to kill (which you can't do anyway, because pretty much every special move has a cooldown.

2- Although it does make you seem like the "hero" (ala AoC), it does a good job to make sure you're not THE hero. It tells you that you're part of a larger movement of immortals and it's your job to do your part in the fight. It sets you up very nicely.

2a-I only played to lvl 10, but you felt part of a bigger story from the beginning. Even the quest log is (very nicely) divided up into regular missions, and story arch missions that are essential to leveling. If i'm not mistaken, some of them are even required to progress, I think.

3- This game looks and sounds beautiful. The music is dynamic and changes when you're in/out of combat. There is also lots of customization thus far, even with level 10 and below gear. You can "socket" your gear with mana gems to give you different stats. It's really nice.

I have already pre-ordered, so now i gotta find time for this, EVE, and even Second Life.

sylphmortem:

swaki:
to all you beta users ; is aion like guild wars in the way that is a single player game whit zones where you can talk to other people or like almost all the others where you share the world

Nope.. there's a lot of pve content, but it's mostly open world, which means you're able to do it with other people. And after level 20 the open-world becomes pvp open-world, where asmodians/elyos can come to your land through 'rifts' and do some mayhem.

And, just like RF, I can see massive griefing potential there. Don't get me wrong. Open-world PvP is good in paper, but if you're just a starting level 20 character when there are already a lot of high-levels (which will be the case if this proves to be popular), it will just mean that your sorry level 20 ass will get whupped time and time again, until some of your fellow race repels the attacker/s, or the attacker/s get/s bored.

EDIT:
Reviews: Aion: The Tower of Eternity Preview Supplement. Really? Do you have to break the very fabric of time and space just to give this one a title? Wouldn't First Impressions: Aion: The Tower of Eternity Preview Supplement, be a better title?

I was pondering over this for some time, and having loved flight in CoH, I might give it a shot.

(It's out on Steam btw)

The idea of people cheering you as you do things always appealed to me, (narcissist as I am) but I'm confused how people write it off as "just" GuildWars as if that's a bad thing.

The key to toppling WoW is for some WoW players to actually try some other games rather than sitting on their uberlevel characters talking about how it used to be good before "(insert whinge here)"

Is it just me or is the music and characters in creation mode like Final Fantasy?

I've been waiting a while for the mainstream gaming media to finally take notice of Aion, glad to see it finally getting a little attention. After playing the beta for the last 5 events and getting a Chanter to lvl 30 I have to say there's a lot of potential in this game. It plays like World of Warcraft, but... smoother, without need for all the addons that you have to update every patch. Want a quest helper? It's got that, the dictionary locates mobs, NPCs, quest objectives, whatever you need. Want a map overlay that doesn't interrupt your game play? It's got that too, with all quest markers intact.

The combat is also relatively the same but flashier, more reactive than routine. While the attack combos you can pull off are mainly on rotation it still keeps you actively in the fight, if you slack and just auto attack, the mobs at your level will do more damage to you than you do to them, almost a guarantee on that unless you're a Templar. The defensive maneuvers are almost all reactive so you have to stay sharp to survive with high damage classes like Assassins and Sorcerers. And... it's just really, really pretty, the attacks, the combos, they just flow together so well.

Questing is... well, questing takes a lot of exploration. There are quest nodes everywhere, you just have to find them. Some times you have quests leading from one quest node to another, which is helpful, but you'll have to walk back and forth between multiple quest nodes over the course of your leveling in order to get all the quests, as each quest node has quests for a wide range of levels and the quests all have level requirements that must be met before you can take them. Also, the quest reward experience is... relatively low, you will have a few grind sessions in order to level up, most of the time you will not be able to just subsist on questing alone. However, there are plenty of quests that are repeatable (blue exclamation marks, if you will) that gives you decent rewards, gold, and coins which can be traded in for random gear from special quartermasters stationed all over the place. This at least gives you some grinding incentive.

As for the world PvP, I finally got a taste of that questing in the Abyss at lvl 25-30 on the most recent beta that just ended a few days ago. In the Abyss... it's harsh, totally open PvP, no where is really safe from a gank team of the opposing faction, but if you stay in groups, questing is still more than doable. Also, the mobs in the Abyss grants much more experience and loot than their counterparts at the same level outside the Abyss, which further promotes the teamwork that is essential for your survival. Outside the Abyss, in the world, your faction has to find portals in order to travel from one half of the world to the other. The portals are not hard to locate, but once you're on the other side there's no way back until you find another portal, and you're most definitely in enemy territory. They will far out number you so you have to stay in groups, big groups, in order for your infiltration to be successful enough to complete specific infiltration objectives from quest givers, and the rewards are really worth it. The thing is though, if you die during an infiltration, you're kicked back to the grave yard you're bound to, which is on your half of the world. Return time is long so infiltration groups do not really have staying power unless you have a portable obelisk (grave yard) that you bound to... of course, the portable obelisk is destructible by the opponent faction so it's still balanced.

As for flight, while it is mainly used to get around (and get away from mobs) in the outer worlds, still very useful, mind you, it is truly essential in the Abyss. Flight is enabled everywhere in that zone of floating islands, getting around the zone without it would be impossible. Moreover, it's a great tool for PvP combat, yes, you can fight on the fly, rain death on your enemies from above (and if you're a Templar there's an ability that allows you to pull an enemy to you with a chain if lightening... which looks fantastic when you're yanking them into the air with you), and if you're questing, you better be paying attention around you AND above you because a gank can happen at any time. To be honest... aerial combat is really pretty, but you have to watch your flight timer, because fall damage is high in this game and if you miss the land and fall into the empty void of the abyss, it's instant death.

The one thing I haven't seen yet is a siege where you capture nodes in the Abyss, first taking it from the NPC mobs and bosses (your classic WoW raid) and then defending it against opponent teams of the opposite faction (your AV) both of which is suppose to grant you loot (boss loot and PvP loot from PvP points). I'm really hoping that the boss fights are innovative and fun to figure out... hopefully reminiscent of WoW boss fights, one of the few things I still enjoy from the blizzard production team.

Anyway, to sum up... this is basically WoW on next generation graphics, tuned up, smoothed out, and polished with absolutely gorgeous graphics, backdrops and music, can't wait for the release :)

Sil

No its not, other players are with you in almost every zone, like WoW.

>.> WoW is what it is, you can't beat it, just chip away at its player base. I'm not saying that Aion is a WoW Killer, it probably won't be, and I don't htink it was ever made to be. People who play WoW have way too much invested in it (I know I did), and it's probably true that people who quit WoW for Aion will most likely come back to WoW after a few months. But for people who wants a change from WoW, or, more importantly, for people who are playing their first MMO, I think Aion's flashy exterior and ease of game play will be more attractive than trying to get into an established MMO with years under its belt and millions of players that you are playing catchup to. After all, there's plenty of gamers in the world, WoW doesn't own all of them, with an expanding player base, Aion doesn't have to take players away from WoW in order to be just as successful, because it definitely has the potential to be.

The idea of getting massive bat wings is enough to make me want to try this.

I haven't played many MMO's, but my main problem is the "press button, wait for creature to die" combat. To be more involving the combat should mimick a fighting game where you hit a specific button for each strike.