BrutalGamer.com Review: Aion

BrutalGamer.com writes:-
A BrutalGamer.com review.

Aion is a massively multiplayer online RPG where players ascend to divinity and fight in an epic celestial war. Wielding divine powers and the capability for true flight, players must bring salvation to their people and restore balance to a vast, beautiful world shattered by a cataclysmic event. Coming from the developers of quality MMOs like Guild Wars and City of Heroes high hopes are the order of the day. Let's see if it can deliver on the promises it made in early development

[Chris399]

Experience from NPCs and high level quests are being significantly increased as of the next patch - possibly as much as four fold in some cases.

Personally, I liked the fact that the most epic gear and levels weren't so easy to come by. But it seems that NCSoft have listened to the NA audience and reacted accordingly.

The PVP in this game, at least, remains tactical and challenging.

[moosehound]

Hi, thanks for the feedback mate. I think if they increase the XP gained by that amount (upto x4) that will impact the game severely. Whilst I found the grind a reasonable expectation for an MMO I think the game will suffer an issue with claustrophobia if you level too fast and an take on quests quicker. My main concern was that the "grind" was a barrier to new genre players and people weaned on the later day Wow and Guild Wars strategies.

Agreed that the PvP is still good fun as is the PvPvE too. All in all a very good MMORPG :)

[Chris399]

To entice new players and the WOW/ casual crowd. As a gamer though, I really like the "hill" to climb. Every level, every proc feels like a real achievement.

I'm certain that I'll still play the game and find a reasonable challenge. PVP in particular, and even the simplest, dumb pull in PVE can cause a wipe in this game, which is rather sadistic fun :P. That said, I hope that they prevent Aion from sliding into full ezmode. We don't need another WOW. It's successful in it's own way. And I believe that Aion can be as well. That is, by sticking to it's merits - balanced PVP, customization, strong aesthetics - not by trying to mimic WOW.

P.S. I will most certainly quit if they nerf the challenge to the extent that I see every Tom, D!ck and Harry walking around in full lvl 50 Daeva in 2 months time :)

[Pennywise]

The grind only shows its ugly face on certain levels. For example: I am 34 and I have no quests worth doing except the very stupid [SPY] quests and the abyss there are a few quests I could work on.

Sooo... I can solo grind, partner gring, bump & grind, or run FT for gear. Not many choices, but I must say I love this game!

Spent 3 hours trying to talk to an NPC by Elyos town for the SPY quest with no luck. I will attempt again today for that nice spellbook ;)

[toaster]

Is the PvP like previous NCSoft games like Guild Wars where you can create a character for the sole purpose of PvP or do you have to go through the grinding and leveling up to get to PvP arenas?

[moosehound]

From what I remember you just make a single character now and take them through the game. The main PvP takes place in The Abyss (if memory serves)