Aion (Open Beta, Launch Day Info too!)

[Morfiend]

If that doesn't interest you, blatantly wrong preorder.

But, but, shiny!

[Phunked]

Played over the weekend a bit.  I'm now trying to get my money back from pre-ordering on steam.

No reason to play this over wow.

Aion is a PvP focused game, WoW is a PvE focused game.

And I've been around long enough to know that these terms are relative to your fancy, and mean little to me.

Just saying, because of your fancy, you were silly in placing that order. The reason to play Aion over WoW is PVP. If that doesn't interest you, blatantly wrong preorder.

The reason to play WAR over WoW was the PvP too.

How'd that work out for them?

Face it, if your leveling experience is grind, the rest of the game isn't fun or whatever, only the 10 hardcore dudes will reach top level PvP and sit there going "your game balance sucks, I can't own Johnny Catass over there". They need noobs to farm off of. If you don't keep the casuals playing/etc, your game is majorly screwed.

[ghost]

Face it, if your elveling experience is grind,

My elveling experience is only a grind if I can't see the elf boobs.

[Phunked]

Face it, if your elveling experience is grind,

My elveling experience is only a grind if I can't see the elf boobs.

This game has anime elf boobs in all sorts of sizes (from coconuts to watermelons). You should be well pleased.

[ghost]

Face it, if your elveling experience is grind,

My elveling experience is only a grind if I can't see the elf boobs.

This game has anime elf boobs in all sorts of sizes (from coconuts to watermelons). You should be well pleased.

Haha.  I won't be the only one....

[DLRiley]

Played over the weekend a bit.  I'm now trying to get my money back from pre-ordering on steam.

No reason to play this over wow.

Aion is a PvP focused game, WoW is a PvE focused game.

And I've been around long enough to know that these terms are relative to your fancy, and mean little to me.

Just saying, because of your fancy, you were silly in placing that order. The reason to play Aion over WoW is PVP. If that doesn't interest you, blatantly wrong preorder.

Well considering that Aion pvp looks like pve with friendly fire turned on I can see why he isn't sold on the difference between wow and aion.

[Falwell]

I finally got some time in this weekend (Asmo Ranger to 13, Ely Sorc to 13) and on most fronts, the game is dead average.

The game runs like a well oiled machine above all else. Very, very high framerates with all settings maxed and with very few hiccups. I don't care much for the art style, but the character models are pretty slick. Almost too slick compared to much of the environmental art as it almost seemed as if the high quality character models stuck out against many of the lower detailed environments. Although, if you're going to cut corners on one or the other to keep framerates high, they probably made the right choice.

Combat is completely been-there-done-that from top to bottom thus far. Also, fix your fucking mana regen thanks.

Flight strikes me as a gimmick up to this point, but we'll see how well it's fleshed out and how vital it becomes in later stages.

Overall I was entertained, but mostly because it was new. In fact, I'd wager that new is this games biggest selling point. Had this game shipped this time last year, or next, it wouldn't be getting nearly the attention it is right now. But, for NCSoft, it's a big win. Considering that most of the news they make these days is from turning off servers, average and profitable is definitely a good thing.

[Morfiend]

I have a feeling Aion will launch with around 450-500k boxes sold and end up retaining around 225k subs.

[Musashi]

And I've been around long enough to know that these terms are relative to your fancy, and mean little to me.

Just saying, because of your fancy, you were silly in placing that order. The reason to play Aion over WoW is PVP. If that doesn't interest you, blatantly wrong preorder.

No you're trying to imply that Aion PvP is objectively better than WoW PvP.  I don't think you should do that.  It's MMO PvP dude.  It's all pretty much the same.

[Rendakor]

Musashi, I think lots of people here forget that you cant PVP in WoW. 

[Falconeer]

And I've been around long enough to know that these terms are relative to your fancy, and mean little to me.

Just saying, because of your fancy, you were silly in placing that order. The reason to play Aion over WoW is PVP. If that doesn't interest you, blatantly wrong preorder.

No you're trying to imply that Aion PvP is objectively better than WoW PvP.  I don't think you should do that.  It's MMO PvP dude.  It's all pretty much the same.

Not better, Musashi. I didn't even had a chance to try Aion PvP myself yet so I can't really say that and it wasn't my point.

Just saying PvP goals are a big part of the endgame here, they are even needed to unlock some PvE stuff so I wouldn't say it is mandatory but from what I heard there's absolutely no point in capping/playing through Aion if you don't want to PvP. In WoW, from what I can remember, PvP is basically a deep minigame that doesn't really mean much.

There's your difference (between just THESE TWO): want an endgame mostly about PvP? Aion. Want an endgame mostly about PvE? WoW

[Nonentity]

This game makes me sad. So much pretty, cockblocked by 15+ hour grind times per level in the endgame.

[Phunked]

This game makes me sad. So much pretty, cockblocked by 15+ hour grind times per level in the endgame.

Grind extends game longevity. Hadn't you heard?

[Slyfeind]

I have a feeling Aion will launch with around 450-500k boxes sold and end up retaining around 225k subs.

I dunno, man. I hear a lot of people in WoW Trade chat saying they're just there until Aion comes out!

[Koyasha]

The pretty is incredible, as well as the detail and some of the animations.  I went to the desert, my character pulled out a fan and started cooling off.  I was floored when I noticed that the earring I equipped was showing up on my model, and different earrings have different models and if I switched the earring from one ear to the other it would switch on my character.  The characters react to the slope of the ground to some degree, changing their stance to look more natural.  That's another thing that amazed me, when I happened to stop in a place that my character lifted one foot to rest it on a ledge that I was halfway straddling.  And the fact that the performance remains incredibly smooth with a high frame rate at all times just makes it even more awesome, since games that look ugly in comparison, such as WoW, have horrible, horrible performance in comparison.

[tmp]

I was floored when I noticed that the earring I equipped was showing up on my model, and different earrings have different models and if I switched the earring from one ear to the other it would switch on my character.  The characters react to the slope of the ground to some degree, changing their stance to look more natural.  That's another thing that amazed me, when I happened to stop in a place that my character lifted one foot to rest it on a ledge that I was halfway straddling.

Yup, it's small touches but (the foot adjustment especially) do add a lot to the overall effect.

[Segoris]

I was floored when I noticed that the earring I equipped was showing up on my model, and different earrings have different models and if I switched the earring from one ear to the other it would switch on my character.  The characters react to the slope of the ground to some degree, changing their stance to look more natural.  That's another thing that amazed me, when I happened to stop in a place that my character lifted one foot to rest it on a ledge that I was halfway straddling.

Yup, it's small touches but (the foot adjustment especially) do add a lot to the overall effect.

When the character is low on hp they hunch over and start panting or something, they definitely aren't standing upright and ready for battle with low hp though. That I thought was a great touch.

[Samprimary]

I have a feeling Aion will launch with around 450-500k boxes sold and end up retaining around 225k subs.

I somehow assume that it is going to end up with more.

It seems like it's going to be the first village outside of WoWtropolis in some time to get large enough for its own city council.

[Falwell]

I have a feeling Aion will launch with around 450-500k boxes sold and end up retaining around 225k subs.

I think that boxes sold number could be drastically higher. 700k wouldn't amaze me in the least.


EDIT:Although the game is not the second god damn coming, it is certainly serviceable. They also happen to be hitting at an excellent time. WotLK has run it's course with most, nothing else big slated for MMO's in 09, they have a very accessible client and the word of mouth is extremely positive. I know for a fact that Gamestop is putting up some ridiculous pre-order numbers for it.

[Threash]

I have a feeling Aion will launch with around 450-500k boxes sold and end up retaining around 225k subs.

I think that boxes sold number could be drastically higher. 700k wouldn't amaze me in the least.

AoC and War sold more than 700k, i don't see any reason why this game won't sell as many or more.  I also dont see people quitting in disgust like they did for aoc and war.  My guess is a million sold, 600k subs after 3 months with slight gains as time goes on rather than huge losses.

[Modern Angel]

We live in a world where AoC and WAR launched at nearly 1mil each. It'll hit right around there though I admit I'm a bit perplexed as to the appeal of the game. I think I might give it a quick spin since I tend to do that with most MMOs but I just don't get it.

[Koyasha]

With chinese WoW servers down either temporarily or permanently, Aion is already competing in the same league as WoW on a global scale since they're up to 3.5 million subscribers.

And I expect them to sell over a million boxes in the NA market in relatively short order.  Sales at least as good as Age of Conan got when it launched, I'd guess.  And I think it will retain at least 2/3 of those, and long term may well grow.

It won't overtake WoW (except perhaps on a global scale if Blizzard doesn't get China back) but the age of WoW being the One True MMO is over.

[Falwell]

I have a feeling Aion will launch with around 450-500k boxes sold and end up retaining around 225k subs.

I think that boxes sold number could be drastically higher. 700k wouldn't amaze me in the least.

AoC and War sold more than 700k, i don't see any reason why this game won't sell as many or more.  I also dont see people quitting in disgust like they did for aoc and war.  My guess is a million sold, 600k subs after 3 months with slight gains as time goes on rather than huge losses.

Very true, I'm going with a slightly more conservative number as Aion hasn't had the extremely heavy marketing push the other two enjoyed.

[Threash]

For a whole lot of people including me "just like WoW except not WoW" is EXACTLY what they are looking for.  I don't understand the "theres no reason to play this over wow" comments, nobody wants to play the same game forever.  I played WoW for over 5 years, i did everything from spending months crafting, getting grand marshal, joining a high level raiding guild, joining a mid level struggling raiding guild, joining a casual friends only guild.  I LIKE wow, i want another game just like it that i haven't already played to death.  New games with similar gameplay to stuff people already like is why we have genres, the market for this game is HUGE.  If it manages to launch in a polished state, runs well and looks pretty while providing the same gaming experience that WoW did this game is going to be a roaring success the likes of which AoC and WaR dreamt about.

[Shatter]

I expect this will sell over 1 million and will be at least a 500K subscriber game or more at 6 months and Aion is picking up steam as it gets closer. I also believe it will end up a 1 million + subscriber base within 1 year. Most forums I read have mostly positive things to say about it which alone goes along way for many people.    There are many reasons it will do well IMO, most pointed out here one major one being people are bored to sh*t of WOW, WHO, AOC, Darfall was a flop and what else is there?  This game already has bug freeness, decent visuals, it runs well on sub par computers at maxed graphics and has little lag(from what Ive seen so far which is about 50 people in one area) all of which on their own are a big step up compared to most crap we have seen launched the last 2 years.  The other thing is WOW being the monster it is hasnt even(to my knowledge) announced another expansion yet, and you know when they do thats at least 1 to 1.5 years away so people arent holding out for that.  Aion is launching at an ideal time

[Phunked]

Update for people who care:

So I've been fucking around with some stuff for a bit. Going to catass as far as I can to see what happens at the higher end. I also got in touch with some buddies from AJ who are also playing around with it. The overall feedback I'm getting (from the pvp = srs crowd)

1. Combat is clunky but serviceable. The combo moves are fairly well balanced in that you can see the set up and prepare for the burst that comes at the end. That means you can 1v3 bad players quickly, but higher tier stuff becomes a tit for tat game of small advantages.

2. Class balance is pretty poor. From what I understand, small scale battles are generally won by who gets a CC on their dispeller and blows someone up with timed burst first, then they fly around waiting on cooldowns. The aerial stuff apparently leaves almost no LOS/terrain advantage, since everyone is open to almost everything at all times. This is actually very disappointing, since it removes a lot of tactical options.

3. Reliance on defensive dispel is incredible. Healers are more important for removing CC than they are for really healing, since that opens up a lot more options to peel by pressure. Mitigating damage without peels is currently not an option. 

4. Welcome back to Grand Marshal honor grind. Actually, welcome back grind period. Expect to do a lot of 3v6 newbie farming to get DA GEARZ. When you get your shiny, embrace the short term, long CD god mode abilities that let you 1v5 people with ease. Hells yeah!

5. Graphics run very well, even with all the shiny going on. Much better than WoW's engine (I have no idea why this is). A lot of the spell effects are way over the top, which makes it hard to tell what the fuck just happened (except for aforementioned god mode, where it's really easy to see what happened. You all got deaded).

More along this vein later. I might get a chance to play some guy's high-ish level account in the Korean version, so I'll post personal feedback on that.

[Morfiend]

The reason I put the number so low is because a lot of people just don't seem to know about it. I contacted a bunch of my old WoW buddies who are no longer playing, and most of them ether knew nothing about it or said something along the lines of "Is that the asian grind mmo?". I actually believe a lot of the subs will be based on the initial word of mouth.

[Shatter]

The reason I put the number so low is because a lot of people just don't seem to know about it. I contacted a bunch of my old WoW buddies who are no longer playing, and most of them ether knew nothing about it or said something along the lines of "Is that the asian grind mmo?". I actually believe a lot of the subs will be based on the initial word of mouth.

Thats fair but do any of them play any other MMO's?  People I know that used to play MMO's also havent heard of it, but they also didnt know a knew Star Wars MMO was in the works either.  People that I know who are currently playing an MMO of some sort seem more in the loop

[Shatter]

2. Class balance is pretty poor. From what I understand, small scale battles are generally won by who gets a CC on their dispeller and blows someone up with timed burst first, then they fly around waiting on cooldowns. The aerial stuff apparently leaves almost no LOS/terrain advantage, since everyone is open to almost everything at all times. This is actually very disappointing, since it removes a lot of tactical options.

Well flying in lower levels so far has a timer, flight time gets extended with new wings at levels 30 and another at max level I think.  I dont expect fighting to always be mid air due to flight timers unless flight time doesnt exist and its infinite in the abyss, dont know didnt get that far yet. 

[Musashi]

Not better, Musashi. I didn't even had a chance to try Aion PvP myself yet so I can't really say that and it wasn't my point.

Just saying PvP goals are a big part of the endgame here, they are even needed to unlock some PvE stuff so I wouldn't say it is mandatory but from what I heard there's absolutely no point in capping/playing through Aion if you don't want to PvP. In WoW, from what I can remember, PvP is basically a deep minigame that doesn't really mean much.

There's your difference (between just THESE TWO): want an endgame mostly about PvP? Aion. Want an endgame mostly about PvE? WoW

Oh, I understand what you're saying.  WoW has Battlegrounds, Arenas, ans Wintergrasp.  In the next patch they're adding mounted PvP or some bullshit.  WoW has plenty of PvP.  There are a lot of people who do nothing but PvP in WoW.  Isn't that enough to call it an endgame?

[tmp]

I dont expect fighting to always be mid air due to flight timers

One of the classes also has a long range debuff which cuts the flight time to ~half. Very effective way to make people think twice about staying in the air for prolonged periods.

[Ceryse]

I figure the game will sell very well; I wouldn't be surprised to see it top ~1 million boxes sold and around ~800 thousand subscribers. I figure about ~500-600 thousand will still be there after 6 months and it'll grow from there. As others have said there's just nothing else out there that's as appealing. I'm not even sold on the core mechanics and I've pre-ordered the CE simply from a lack of anything else even remotely interesting being out there -- and after the beta weekend event, my only two serious issues are the UI (god its horrible; servicable, but lacking key elements) and the emphasis on gang-rape PvP.

As for flying; Spiritmasters (I believe its them) indeed have a debuff that lowers flight time, but I know Clerics can recharge flight time with a spell/stigma in the top levels. Also, in the Abyss flight time isn't as constrained, as there are 'rings' in the air you can use to recharge your flight timers. Of course, certain classes do more damage in the air, while others are hampered by aerial combat.

Only got my Elyos Cleric to level 22, but I did a bit of PvPing in Asmodae when a quest ported me over there and I had no clue what else to do. Was okay until aforementioned gang-raping came into play.

Of course, from what's being said about the grind to level at the later levels (some have said ~12-15 hours for a single level, most of it grinding, even after the 1.5 patch) it might be a moot point. Rest experience will help the casuals through it, though.

[Morfiend]

The reason I put the number so low is because a lot of people just don't seem to know about it. I contacted a bunch of my old WoW buddies who are no longer playing, and most of them ether knew nothing about it or said something along the lines of "Is that the asian grind mmo?". I actually believe a lot of the subs will be based on the initial word of mouth.

Thats fair but do any of them play any other MMO's?  People I know that used to play MMO's also havent heard of it, but they also didnt know a knew Star Wars MMO was in the works either.  People that I know who are currently playing an MMO of some sort seem more in the loop

Most of these are people who keep up to date on large releases, like AoC and WAR. They knew next to nothing of Aion.

[Falconeer]

Oh, I understand what you're saying.  WoW has Battlegrounds, Arenas, ans Wintergrasp.  In the next patch they're adding mounted PvP or some bullshit.  WoW has plenty of PvP.  There are a lot of people who do nothing but PvP in WoW.  Isn't that enough to call it an endgame?

That's the endgame of the minigame you are talking about. That's not world pvp, which is what Aion is about. I should have specified, sure, but Musashi if you really can't see what I mean then good you win, my English is not enough for this. WoW and Aion are the same, ok.

[Shatter]

The reason I put the number so low is because a lot of people just don't seem to know about it. I contacted a bunch of my old WoW buddies who are no longer playing, and most of them ether knew nothing about it or said something along the lines of "Is that the asian grind mmo?". I actually believe a lot of the subs will be based on the initial word of mouth.

Thats fair but do any of them play any other MMO's?  People I know that used to play MMO's also havent heard of it, but they also didnt know a knew Star Wars MMO was in the works either.  People that I know who are currently playing an MMO of some sort seem more in the loop

Most of these are people who keep up to date on large releases, like AoC and WAR. They knew next to nothing of Aion.

Guess I shouldnt be surprised but what I expect to happen is if it launches well(and I'm sure it will) and people have mostly good things to say about it(positive word of mouth) that it will pickup momentum subscriber wise relatively fast its first few months.  I think a lot of people dont pay much attention to Asian type MMO's, I know I didnt until I looked more deeply into this one