I’m playing Aion!!
…and I’m rather bored. Aion gameplay at low levels is about as generic an experience as you can find in an MMORPG. It’s pretty and polished, but so very bland.
For a MMORPG head start, it’s been very smooth, as I expected. The game has been Live in Asia for a while now, so Aion had a much better chance to launch smoothly in NA and Europe.
NCsoft is trying their best to keep server populations balanced. Since the endgame is largely PvP, both factions have to be fairly equal in number or else the entire game collapses. We’ve already seen major issues with uneven faction populations in other games (WAR).
So NCsoft is ‘locking’ servers and preventing people from joining overpopulated factions. It’s a good idea, but the servers were overcrowded so quickly that many people were unable to create characters on their server of choice.
The somewhat limited number of servers also means ridiculously long queues. I’m seeing queues of upwards of 6 hours. Forums are full of people complaining about not being able to play. In most cases, the time estimate given by the game are an overestimate, but it’s still difficult for people unable to play.
I was lucky. I got in on my Asmodian server immediately (I’m playing on Lumiel). Once you get in, as long as you don’t log out completely, you stay in. I took an hour break leaving the client running and showing the character selection screen. I had no problems getting right back into the game. You can switch characters without being forced to wait in the queue.
Ugh. I’m having a hard time mustering the patience to play again. Maybe I’ll try switching to another class for a while.
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I guess waiting just a bit longer for the dust to settle will be better. But just going by your posts it seems that Champions Online was more engaging than AION. I know a lot of people in WOW have there eye on AION. SuperHero games dont appeal to everyone. Seems sword and scorcery themes are still popular. I really would like a good science fiction MMO to come anything but elves and dwarves and all of it. Give me a laser pistol or a ‘light saber” something different.
My first Aion character was a warrior.
I tab-select a target, hit one hotkey….then wait while my character kills something. Repeat. Some MMORPG’s start off slowly, but this was kinda ridiculous.
I level up a few times. The only difference is hitting the same hotkey twice.
The quests are remarkably mundane as well. I’m gathering flowers and weeds. Fetching food and wine. Hmm…heroic!
Combat in Champions Online is so much more dynamic because there are multiple targets and travel powers are so much fun. Combat in Age of Conan is far more engaging as well.
I’m still playing Aion…I just can’t play for more than an hour at a time without becoming really bored. I’m playing because I’m sure it will get better….I hope, hah.
Something is messed up when two major MMORPG’s are released in the past few weeks and I’m sitting here playing Strong Bad’s Cool Game for Attractive People.
SBCGfAP is a hilarious game, though. Well worth playing, even if you aren’t a fan of point-n-click adventure games. If you don’t play it, definitely check out the flash animated comics…so funny. homestarrunner.com
I am spending most of my CO time doing PvP minigames. I created what I think is one of the most overpowered builds on the entire server…overpowered, yet not completely cheesy. I rule minigames…never dying unless 3+ people gang up on me and get lucky.
Aion…I’ve logged a total of maybe 2 hours so far. Grrr…Still so boring.
@Meths – one non-fantasy MMO that is being developed that caught my eye recently was Secret Worlds.
Its been in development for a while and its one i hadn’t looked at for a few reasons… firstly there was very little info about it except it was based in modern times/environments. Secondly it is being developed by Funcom, who at the time I was disappointed with after their buggy release of AoC but have since forgiven.
Anyway, there has recently been a bit of info released about it… i’d recommend checking it out (google ‘dark days are coming’), and take the test on their website. I find the concept very intriguing! (also the combat engine is the same as AoC… one of the things i liked about the game!).
@Ferv0r – the more you describe Aion the more it seems i am going to be putting it on the backburner to check out
.
I am still a huge fan of Funcom. I spent countless hours in Anarchy Online, Age of Conan and I’ve played Ragnar’s adventure games. I still have Dreamfall installed on my computer, hah.
Secret World definitely has potential…to do well…or to bomb. It sounds like it could be really cool, but I’m not sure if it has more than niche market potential. I’m very interested to see how it turns out. (I took the test…Illuminati!)
Any game that isn’t another fantasy clone ranks high on my list.
As for Aion, I’m really torn about whether I really want to play it. It really is a very polished experience and I do think it will do quite well. But I’ve done it all a million times already…and the leveling curve isn’t so friendly. Up to 30, it’s fairly fast, but 30 to 50 seems like it’s going to be torture for me.
I’ve seen videos of PvP duels and group PvP and it seems a lot more fun than the boring PvE quest grind. I think I would enjoy the PvP, but I have to level up first to experience it.
I ended up being Dragon! (although self-selected Illuminati
). Anyway, by sounds got still a while to wait before its release. Happy for it to be niche as long as it is of good quality (for me, “Massively” in MMO has been largely overrated).
The test made me realize I’m more power hungry than I thought, hah.
I’m too lazy, but if I had power, I would definitely abuse it.
That’s true about quality being important. If it’s a good quality game that’s fun, it’s fine if it’s a niche game. Funcom has already shown with Anarchy Online that they are willing to support their games for a long time.
I’m not sure I agree with you that the massively part is overrated though.
The MMORPG’s I played the most are the ones where I was the most involved with guilds and other people. If you don’t get involved, you end up getting bored with the content and combat.
In terms of pure gameplay, MMORPG’s really aren’t that good. Single player games offer a far better experience. It’s the social element that makes it fun.
But like real life, you have to work at finding a social circle. It doesn’t just drop in your lap.
Okay, I rolled a couple new characters. A scout and a mage.
It is a lot more fun with these two classes.
For some reason, the scout is crazy fragile at low levels. It’s quite possible to die every fight. So while it doesn’t require much skill, doing big damage and almost dying all the time makes it more interesting.
The mage is rather powerful, making fights go faster.
I think picking warrior as my first character was the problem…so, so, so slow and boring. My second was a cleric…equally slow and a bit frustrating because too many of her attacks get resisted.
I thought of a making a warrior also if I played the game. I always go squishy but I know it seems that in end game warriors seem to become super powerful. Its the painfully slow leveling process that kills me with them.
I think just finding the most OP toon and blazing ahead works =p
Your correct about MMO’s being about the social aspect. The game play is turn based and if you just grind mobs alone for months its boring. Running around with friends makes the game fun.
http://www.aionsource.com/forum/atreia/53121-najs-duel-vidz-showcasing-my-silver-eyed-witch-against-bunch-people-d-gladiator-pride-hd-combat-analysis.html
It has a bunch of decent quality youtube videos of a level 20-30 gladiator (warrior-type) doing PvP duels against a number of different classes.
It gives you a pretty good idea of what combat is like at higher levels…well, duels, anyways. I thought it looked interesting, so I wanted to give it a try. I never play warriors…I rarely even play melee classes.
Warriors are often really strong in end-game, but that’s because they are usually the most dependent on gear. Gear usually scales up faster than spell power and heals.
@fervOr
If you have found a crazy CO PVP build, I’d love to see it. Do you think you could post? Or perhaps you could start an entry on PVP and what Works/Doesn’t Work?
Please?
@freshrod
Unfortunately, my build took a hit today with the nerf patch. It’s primarily an Ice/Fire build. It’s still quite good for PvE and PvP, though. There are better damage dealing builds, but mine is a good compromise between damage, utility and survivability. I like it because it’s not cheesy with endless holds and knockdowns. I’m almost always the winner or the top performer in the PvP minigames.
Here are the key powers:
Ice Blast, Frost Breath (big nerf to chill), Regen, TK shield or Force shield or Ice Shield (crippling challenge can’t break it), Fireball, Conflagration, Flashfire (massive nerf), Thermal Reverb (massive nerf), Immolation, Resurgence, Mindful Reinforcement.
Get your preferred hold and knockdown power. Use Ice Form if you want to be more of a glass cannon. It’s really not a big secret or a surprise combination of powers. But it just all works really well together.
I think I might switch back to a darkness/ego build with the free respec tomorrow. I’m also leveling up more characters, so I might just wait and see. She’s still good…just not as good as yesterday.
@ferv0r – sorry for going off topic again
. Anyway, agree social is essential… however my point is massive number of players is over-rated. Its how it is implemented.
The most social game i ever played was a text-based MUD… played it for 9 years (going back to the 90s!), and it had a cap on the number of players who could be online at any one point of 110. Its lasting value was due to the social interaction between a solid base of players, where reputations were formed, pvp personal, allies and enemies people you don’t forget.
WoW lost its way in PvP i reckon when it moved from server based combat in the battlegrounds to cross-server combat. This moved towards instant pvp gratification at the cost developing a true Horde v Alliance dynamic on each server. Pre cross-server PvP, regular foes were instantly recognisable in and out of the battlegrounds, and created interesting interactions… and like the MUD of earlier days reputations were made. Likewise, bonds formed between regular comrades-in-arms in the battlegrounds.
You don’t get that now… following an epic hour-long defence of AV where you form a bond with some of your defenders, it ends, and you never interact with them again. Foes are just red name plates, and the value of pvp is simply the wracking up of honour points.
9 years of text-based MUD’s! Wow. I’ve heard of them, but never played one. People always said they were so hardcore, but they all have fond memories of their time with their MUD’s.
That is a very good point about WoW’s cross-server battlegrounds. I remember having a similar thought when Blizzard first implemented it. All these random people…they might as well be NPC’s.
When I played Anarchy Online and Star Wars Galaxies, it was a much smaller community with 2 opposing factions. There was constant warring between sides and seeing the same names over and over again really helped create a great faction vs faction dynamic. People in my faction grew closer and we hated everyone on the opposing side.
Similarly, in AoC, we had nonstop guild wars and I can still remember the names of some of the people I hated so much. They were probably really nice people, but in the context of the game, they were my enemies! It was the guild politics and wars that made AoC so fun for me. Frustrating at times, but overall, a great experience.
This does point to a big problem with Champions Online. It just has too much of an emphasis on solo gameplay and with only one server, the population is just too big to have a strong community. There are some team instances, but they are easily done with PUG’s. Joining a guild really has no meaning…it’s just another chat channel. Unless Cryptic provides more team and guild focused content, they are going to have issues with retaining subscribers.
I played the CO beta, but it didnt really grab me. There were alot of things I thought were cool, but once they did a wipe on everyone’s toons, I had started recreating mine and halfway thru I just kind of lost interest. I understand why they did the wipe, I just knew I wasn’t that interested at that point.
I had terrible luck with my Aion pre order. I made my toons Saturday night, and after waiting hours to queue in my pc froze up and apparently I had some kind of virus and didnt get to play till last night.
I’m with you on the nothing very new part, but so far it’s the most fun I had in awhile. I play the scout and mage and a cleric with my friend’s tank.
Secret World looks very interesting. (I tested Dragon, but templar sounds my speed..lol)
I too have enjoyed text based games in the past. I played “The King of Spades” for several years and really enjoyed the role playing involed and the feeling of being on a tight knit team of Super Villians, (World’s Villians United). We plotted, attacked, wreaked havok for the games heroes, created awesome fleets of vehicles, and secret bases.
I think CO could take a lot from other games. I think that it has the potential to be a really great hybrid of all the good things MMO’s can be. Just think, if they come out with a Villians expansion, that would open a whole possibility of team on team battles. All kinds of special maps and intances that are designed for co-op team and team vs. team play.
I think one of the things that are lacking, like has been stated before, is the feeling of working together. While this is an MMO, it might as well be a Single instance. I’m lvl 23 and have only rarely teamed up with anyone. Had rarely felt like I needed to.
@robert
I’ve been the complete opposite. It’s creating new characters and new builds that appeal the most to me! Actually playing them is a side benefit.
Sorry to hear about your Aion woes. That sucks.
Queues are still annoying. I created a simple macro that clicks the screen once every few minutes to keep me logged on. I log out to the character selection screen and activate the macro, so I figured it shouldn’t raise any concerns. So during primetime, I don’t have to worry about queues that much. I hope it doesn’t get me in trouble (haha).
@freshrod
That’s so cool that you can do all that in a text based game. I suppose since the graphics are simple and everyone is computer literate, the game can be really complex.
As for CO, yes, the lack of team based content is probably one of the biggest concerns. At level 40, there really isn’t much to do. Usually, in other MMORPG’s (especially WoW), at level 40 is when the major team/guild content happens.
I really wonder what Cryptic has planned for us at the endgame. People can only reroll and create new builds for so long…eventually, they will want some real endgame content.
A Villains expansion could definitely add some endgame content (PvP-related, though), but I don’t see a Villains expansion happening anytime soon. It’s going to be a long while. Cryptic has said they don’t want to just do a reskin of the heroes game. If they make a Villains game, they want to make it a different gaming experience.
Yeah, 9 years! Back when internet was essentially accessible via university computer labs or by joining computer clubs and paying rediculous minute rates!
MUDs were very addictive… it was the first real step from pen and paper roleplay to an online interactive fantasy world (i suppose the quasi step was networked PCs, playing games like the original Warcrafts or Starcrafts).
Text vs graphical was kind of like the difference between a book and a movie. The former, a lot can be left to your imagination… for the later to compete with a persons imagination, it usually involves investing a lot of $$$s
@robert – got to say, its reassuring that even though Aeon is nothing new, it is still entertaining! I may give it a go sooner rather than later… DDO is starting to bore me.
I’m not too concerned with server queues as i’m based in Australia so not competing with the mainstream US players
. Ironically, server queues were common in the glory days of MUDs too! (largely because the lag of having more than 100 people on the one server was too much… very glad technology has improved since then!)
Wait a sec. 9 years. Ultima Online and Everquest are both more than 10 years old. So while people were playing UO and EA, you were playing text based MUD’s? Interesting, heh.
As for Aion, no reason to not give it a go. It is a good game. It’s probably the the best chance for a new game to give WoW some real competition. Supposedly, it already had 3.5 million subscribers before it even launched in the western markets.
Personally, I find this post really scary:
http://www.aionsource.com/forum/reviews-critiques/22086-truth-reaching-level-50-5-days.html
It’s a breakdown of how long it takes to level up in Aion. By the end levels, it guesstimates 20+ hours per level (50 is the cap).
People who are used to WoW, WAR and AoC (and CO) are in for a HUGE shock when they realize the leveling curve.
NCsoft is constantly adding more quests, so with time, it will get better. But it will never be fast.
Wow , with a leveling curve like that it puts extreme importance on what toon you choose to play. No leveling up a half dozen alts like in say GW. COH had a giant leveling curve and death debt to boot but I got around it by herding.
Gah, CoH. The leveling curve in that game killed me. I couldn’t even get to level 30. I think my highest was my spines scrapper at level 28 or something. It felt like an endless grind of identical missions and street crawling (sweeping?). I had all my character slots filled with cool heroes, though. I really loved some of the classes in that game, but I just couldn’t bear the grind.
In all the games I’ve played with a steep curve, I was unable to get anywhere close to the level max. Even in my first MMORPG addiction, Anarchy Online, I only got to level 127 (out of 220 or something). When I quit playing, the level cap was much lower…150 or so, so I was just high enough to experience the endgame content.
In Aion, the leveling curve is really friendly at first. Getting to 20 is pretty easy. By that point, you should have a reasonable idea of what the class is like. Level 30 is bearable, if you need more time to decide.
I took the plunge and bought AION and I am currently installing it right now. After reading more about it I was pleased with its payment plans. I think that will let me dabble around with it more.
I do have a gripe in that I reserved a copy of the collectors edition and bestbuy and just like warhammer before. When I go in to get my ‘reserved copy” they dont have it and I end up going to another shop to get it.
ooo I just noticed that the AION box CE edition gave me a code for GW. That will allow me to sprout AION wings! I love those little details.
Great! I hope you have fun! Report back.
I want to get to at least level 20…maybe 30 before writing any kind of review post.
Ok…I’m seriously getting addicted to Aion right now..lol. Not sure why exactly. I’m loving the cleric, but I’ve always loved playing healer class with HoT’s. My resto druid’s probably the only toon I played on WoW I miss.
I’m looking forward to 10 on my mage. I want to go the spiritmaster route.
Only thing I’m not so stoked on is the seeming lack of character specialization? I working on toon builds.
In any case just thought I’d let y’all know I’m enjoying it. Cheers!
There is more specialization later on with the Stigma system (I think they are drops). Stigmas add more abilities to your characters (no idea what they are…I just know they exist).
My highest level in beta (haha, only 15) was a Spiritmaster. She was pretty fun. I almost always play either a pet class or a healer class in most MMORPG’s. I find that having to manage a pet adds more complexity to the gameplay.
Glad to hear you are having fun. Gives me more hope that I’ll get into Aion if I keep playing.
@ferv0r
Ahh, I saw the section for stigmas in my profile and hoped they were some kind of specs. Drops, huh…weird.
Just noticed where I said “I working on toon builds”..LOL, there was supposed to be love in there somewhere.
I’m really surprised I’m enjoying it because I been looking for a UO/SWG kind of sandbox immersion. I’ve been sick of these generic linear games, but I find myself thinking about getting home to play while I’m at work, so I’m happy. I missed that feeling.
Still want a good sandbox. Fallen Earth is getting some good feedback since it started despite all the nasty comments people posted before that. I think it actually surprised them. I’m more interested in Earthrise than that tho.
I have been playing AION now for a few days and I have reached level 12 on my Mage. I go through a whole thing of how a character looks do I like is it perfect everything. I log on and go oh its to short and I don’t like the skin tone. Delete start all over again and drive myself crazy until its satisfying. Anyways that is done and I level a Mage.
I leveled that mage to 10 and chose the Spirit master class and then I discovered I don’t like the pets they look dumb to me and annoying so I delete and start again. I now am just a sorc and that is fine with me.
I cant say that this game offers anything new at all I am totally bored of leveling and just want to be done with it and PVP and perfect the toon. Leveling is always a drag new game or not. I am not sure if I just have an interest in leveling anymore. The game looks amazing the quests are amusing and the powers so far are totally standard as to what you need to survive as a caster.
I wish Warhammer had this kind of polish when it was released the quest helper in this thing is awesome the interface is great everything is done right. We even have a general chat and trade channel (unlike WH where we all ran around in silence for weeks until the devs decided that maybe people would like to talk in a MMO)
I don’t know all I can say is that I am bored leveling and I just go on the hope that it will be fun later.
@meths
Oh I’m terrible with perfecting my toon. I have rerolled for reasons as simple as yours countless times. Right now I don’t like my clerics face, but I have him to lvl 10 and play that one with my friend so I’m just waiting for them to sell the plastic surgeon tickets to change it. ( you can change everything down to the voice and height)
Although I’m enjoying Aion I’ve been sick of quest driven games for awhile now. I just can’t find anything that isn’t quest driven atm, that appeals to me.
I’d probably love Mortal Online or even Darkfall, but I can not and will not play 1st person views. They make me dizzy and I like to see myself anyway. I’m vain dammit!
@Meths
I do the same thing re: my characters’ appearance. It’s far less of a problem in Aion though…it’s hard to create an ugly character in that game, so I’m not as picky.
That’s one thing I really like about Champions Online. I can fiddle with my characters’ appearance as much as I want without having to reroll. With a press of a hotkey, I can instantly switch around costumes. It’s great.
Re: the gameplay, I’m having a similar experience. It’s polished and beautiful, but I’m having a lot of trouble motivating myself to keep leveling.
I’m definitely going to have to cut back on the number of hours I play MMORPG’s. If I don’t, I’m going to burn myself out completely.
I do think it will get better though. At low levels, we don’t get many powers to play with. Eventually, you’ll be teaming up a lot more too, which is usually more fun. PvP and the Abyss starts at level 25 (I think).
Nice blog. I’ll need to level up to 30 to get ahead of friends. how fast would it take?
@Zee
This forum posting has some estimates for how long it takes to level up.
http://www.aionsource.com/forum/reviews-critiques/22086-truth-reaching-level-50-5-days.html
Apparently the fastest grinder took 3 days to reach level 30, with 9 total hours of sleep. So I’d guess a normal person would take 70-90 hours?